I think certain aliases on SIC should be reserved...I know this is basically already in place but I'm talking about an extended version. For instance, there could be different applications of this feature if some extras were added:

1) Major corporation A wants to use SIC to boost productivity, natural since it's such a useful tool. SIC in it's current state they don't want, because it's so open. Company secrets could accidently be transmitted across the whole public freq.. aliases can be spoofed and who knows what else.

So Corp. A buys out a large segment of aliases reserved for its personelle. New employee's are issued the alias which can only be used by SIC ID # xxxxxxxxxxx.... Certain regulations would apply -

=> When you change your alias to your reserved one, you are cut off from the public channel ('cm' would maybe be automatically encrypted to the public freq?) and cannot 'cc' to anyone but other registered Corp. A accounts.

=> Other aliases that are registered to Corp. A appear in your 'who' list with a * next to their alias or have some fixed, verifiable symbol to indicate they are internal. Importantly this can only be spoofed by making the computer brain that handles SIC aliases think you are registered or some such thing. Also, whatever symbol is used should be restricted as well, i.e. you can't just add the * to your name and make believe.. this sort of thing

=> 'cm' or 'cc' within Corp. A would either be entirely invisible to the normal public freq. (naturally with various ways to gain unauthorized access) or would appear encrypted... 'cc's between Corp aliases could appear encrypted on the public freq as well to make things interesting..

=> Registration of aliases could be done from some kind of terminal in Corp. HQ. Special privileges for non-registered aliases could be applied in exceptional cases.. also special 'secure' links between Corp. A's private aliases and Corp. B's private aliases might be implemented...

2) Really basic. I think this should also, and *especially*, apply to the WJF.

=>New judges would be given reserved aliases that only their SIC chip, upon verification of their biometric signature, can use. i.e. WJF-ABCD can't be used by any old homeless Mixer.

=> All aliases beginning with "WJF-" should be reserved. All aliases like "WJFSUCKS" or "FUCKWJF" would also be 'reserved'... this kind of shit is already in place today with major corporations. Think of how severe this kind of censorship would be in Withmore City.

3) 'SICAD' should be reserved damnit!

It's authoritarian and nasty and may contribute to reducing the bullshit and fun of SIC... but I think these features would actually contribute to the overall feel of Sindome....so fuck you!

(Edited by BuddhaBrand at 3:59 pm on April 4, 2006)

By BuddhaBrand at Apr 4, 2006 1:28 PM

...amen.

I've seen corpie characters doing this, but there's nothing stopping random mixer #16632 as logging on as "SK-Joe" and then spouting off at the mouth like a disgruntled employee.

My vote's for talking publicly, encrypted. As much as I hate it IRL, I do like knowing there are people talking that I can't understand ingame.

...and also I'd like to see that even if you have a corp SIC account, you can use something more anonymous if you so choose. There's restrictions, then there's restrictions.Think about it as being 'on-call' for work. Some times, you just don't wanna be thinking about the office.

By Chienne at Apr 4, 2006 1:51 PM

Of course, people wouldn't always have to use a 'registered' SIC alias.. and yeah, I guess just reserving the aliases would remove the need for complex changes to SIC if you just encrypted everything.

But my thing was more like a dedicated SIC channel so Corpie's wouldn't even THEMSELVES be allowed to talk to other people (when using their business account). Or even receive messages from outsiders.

Like a firewall. Whether or not the alias would be completely invisible to the 'outside' is another story.

(Edited by BuddhaBrand at 3:57 pm on April 4, 2006)

By BuddhaBrand at Apr 4, 2006 1:55 PM

Oooh.Kinda like how I can't look at fun websites at school because I should be doing "work". :)

By Chienne at Apr 4, 2006 2:02 PM

As long as there is a way around it. I can't even count the times I've used "social engineering" to properly distort or otherwise warp a situation in my favor.

So on this model, like 90% of aliases wouldn't be registered and you could social engineer all you want... except for corps and the law it would be harder. you'd need to hire someone knowledgeable to do it for you if you didnt know how yourself..

By BuddhaBrand at Apr 4, 2006 3:45 PM

I agree, I think at the very least, I think anything with th 'WJF' in it should be a reserved alias.

By Nemisis at Apr 4, 2006 8:11 PM

Reserving SIC aliases should be easy from a coding point of view if there is a field in each character for an employer. (supposibly there is, because you supposedly can not run crates after you get hired by a corp. How else would the game know?) add a few line of code that query this field when you try and change your Alias. If your SIC prefix (WJF-) doesn't match your employer (WJF) then you are denied that alias prefix. I don't know about mixing the prefix into your Alias string, something like FuckWJF still might slip by. But that is part of the fun, how else are we supposed to stick it to the man? As for not having any interaction with the rest of the SIC community when you are on a "corp" channel, I think that is possible but a little more coding than is nessassary. Besides if the comchannel is encrypted but still available, What happens when you steal the key? Personally I want to steal the WJF crypto-key and sell it for small fortune on the street. Can you imagine the chaos you could create with our cities finest? Can you Say PayData?

By Mensaboy at Apr 5, 2006 7:05 AM

Personally I want to steal the WJF crypto-key and sell it for small fortune on the street. Can you imagine the chaos you could create with our cities finest? Can you Say PayData?

No comment. :boom:

As for the rest...Reserved aliases are interesting but it just makes it easier for us corpie to type get all OOC and SICo like. What I'd like to see is more encrypted channels of relevance. Perhaps even a corporate phonebook issued to employees and possibly even the WJF. Just in case you wanna have access to the other drones, contacts is all you really have a a corpie. In a place as lonely as gold, it wouldn't hurt to have a little help.

Naturally, upper echelon would be unlisted and mixer's [and mixer sympathizers]would be blacklisted caught dead on there but it could prove valuable. Perhaps even containing such relevant information as resume's.

I've gone horrifically off-topic...but basically what I'm saying is we should a SIC accessable database that one day when the grid is fixed can be just as accesable.

There's an incredible amount of information in game and most if it is never seen. Hidden away on E-note's and other closed technology. If we can increase the universal access of data, we can increase the flow of information. Topside: things don't travel by word of mouth.

Quote: from ReeferMadness on 2:40 am on April 6, 2006[br]What I'd like to see is more encrypted channels of relevance. Perhaps even a corporate phonebook issued to employees and possibly even the WJF. Just in case you wanna have access to the other drones, contacts is all you really have a a corpie. In a place as lonely as gold, it wouldn't hurt to have a little help.

Yes. Yes yes yes.I loveses the encrypted SIC talk.Glad to know I'm not the only one.

*votes for this and most of the rest of Reefer's statement*

By Chienne at Apr 5, 2006 2:16 PM

The problem with encrypted SIC right now, is that if anyone aside from the WJF uses it, the entire fucking playerbase KNOWS that a group of people is talking. The WJF starts to take notice. It's happened ICly, in a city of 65 milllion, a small group of people using an encrypted SIC channel should -not- be noticed unless there using aliases that draw attention.

I'm going to go ahead and say I think we need some ambient encrypted SIC messages to desensitize everyone to them.

I don't feel like people using encrypted SIC should have to change their alias after each message, but that -is- the case.

By Nemisis at Apr 14, 2006 7:34 AM

I agree that there should be ambient encrypted SIC that is not Judge chatter. Because I love ambience, and because it would serve a purpose. As for a spam problem, it doesn't have tobe A LOT of chatter, but the occasionaly encrypted convo.

+1 The ambient SIC alias tags:: Although I enjoy the humour, the fact that I can identify ALL the non-player aliases by the tag + the other aliases that practically never change *defeats the purpose* of there being ambeint SIC aliases at all. So, more aliases with out clever tags should be added in my opinion. ( I think FS agreed with me on this one ).

By BuddhaBrand at Apr 14, 2006 8:11 AM

Yeah, agreed. If it's not futurama, its probably a player. *chuckles*

By Nemisis at Apr 14, 2006 9:02 PM

oooh, Ambient encrypted sic... I'll have to get one of the coders on that.Slither

By Iga at Apr 15, 2006 10:31 AM

I really like the idea of the ambient encrypted sic channels. Would add a lot of flavor and help mislead people and give depth to SIC. Currently, if there is encrypted chatter, you know it is a player character, feels kind of meta. So +1 on that.

Also, I think having reserved SIC handles or protection would be awesome. Similar to WJF gear or TERRA gear, that knows if the person is an authorized user or not.

In a real life setting, I do not think that the WJF or TERRA or NLM, et cetera would easily allow millions of people to easily access the use of WJF-USER, TERRA-ME, or NLM-YOU, et cetera.

Perhaps the aliases that would be restricted/locked, the character/employee would have to apply for the alias you want, and then once approved, only works on your SIC Identifier. There could be avenues of bypassing this, perhaps ripper doc'n the targets SIC chip, or perhaps illegal alias registration by a cowboy decker, or secure tech, or something. Would bring an additional aspect of income to those folks, and make it more difficult to impersonate law enforcement, et cetera.

If successful in acquiring a restricted handle via devious means, it would be much more believable that the illegally acquire sic handle is legitimate to others on SIC. Rather than having that, "Oh, that is whatshisherface alias hopping to the WJF again".

Taking restricted aliases is an IC choice, with IC consequences if you are caught, as well as IC rewards if you can pull off your schemes by taking those restricted aliases. By adding a mechanism to prevent it, you are removing opportunity for roleplay.

I just think it should be more difficult to do. Not to make it impossible. In my opinion, I think it would bring more RP as you would have to spread some money around, or know certain archetypes to get the alias you want. Just some thoughts.

I also think that protected SICs would be very themely (corps, in my opinion, should very jealously guard their images and they have the power to do it). And, as as Scarlyt has said, registered SICs would not remove RP. It would change the nature of it.

I don't think it would be a bad thing if more players would need to be involved in assuming someone's corporate identity. Yet more for the tech nerd/med characters to do. More value to them.

Beyond that, it gives these aliases more credibility when making public announcements. Credibility that one can take advantage of and gives those aliases more value. It would also mean that someone who manages to hop onto one might be worthy of a little respect (even if they just wave it around in a way that isn't believable on intended to be believable).

Of course, on the other hand, right now anyone can try and use a corp SIC if they are willing to face the potential consequences. Barrier to entry is zero. Maybe raising the bar a little would be a bad thing.

I think there's a lot of value in making corpies have to work to protect there brand and that of the company they work for via SIC. It's one of the easiest ways even one of the littlest people can challenge the class divide and in turn earn a hefty fine.

I like the idea of being able to impersonate with serious consequences if you're caught. And all the other RP that could occur.

If you want an alias reserved, you could always hire another character or immie to take your alias when you're not using it.

By Diani at Feb 22, 2018 3:53 AM

I liked being able to shoot as many drugs as I wanted in a fight with no consequence but that doesn't mean it's good for the game or for the theme. The SIC being less regulated than twitter isn't CP at all.

I'm just saying that setting limits to SIC might limit RP opportunities as well. I mean, from an advantage or IC perspective, I would definitely like the idea of reserving SIC aliases and so on, but like I said, actually doing that codedly may limit certain RP opportunities as has been mentioned above.

By Diani at Feb 22, 2018 4:01 AM

Limiting RP opportunities that aren't CP doesn't seem harmful in my opinion. Some twelve year old shouldn't be able to cause a momentary "huh?" moment for immies who see WJF-LAW asking for a blowjob behind Blitz Laundry is dumb. Solo McJoeboy shouldn't be able to wage a 1-man guerilla campaign against NLM because he changes aliases faster than you can trace him.

What about a char attempting to blackmail another char or misinform them via private SIC? Or "selling data"?

By Diani at Feb 22, 2018 4:12 AM

We have to balance realism with game play. Does a change like this increase rp? Or decrease it? I think this would decrease rp. People would know for sure they were talking to the people they wanted to be talking to and wouldn't have to leave their cubes.

I see it like this...you ever get an Indian scammer trying to say they are from the government and you are qualified for a $10,000 grant you just have to give them all of your personal identity theft information?

Now apply that to the SIC. I've conned people out of a lot of chy on the SIC. It's fun. It's realistic.

I mean, 'realistic' would be NLM cracking down on this shit the first time one of their employees was impersonated because they literally maintain the system, that's not a great argument.

CP would be the ability to lock down corp prefixes or aliases for a steep fee, i.e. the haves can afford to do it but the have-nots can't, just like everything else. If the mixers want to scam around with each other with alias hopping whatever (alias hopping would even then perhaps taken on mixer or 'trashy' connotations, which is interesting IMO).

It feels less 'it creates RP' to me than it's just feels silly, but I'm not privy to even 10% of what the admins see done with it so I'm willing to remain agnostic on that front.

If anything I wish creating paranoia on SIC was more available but required more skill and was perhaps more effective *cough* SIC hacking *cough* but that's a whole other topic.

Only so much time and coder resources to spend on things. Infinite amount of *ideas* to make the text game more real life-like in all aspects.

Maybe try to dial down your expectations and desires into modular and realistic ideas that are fitting to a text environment while considering what may be cumbersome as an experience from all perspectives?

it's never about what you think makes sense alone, it's about what makes sense, would be fun for everyone, and adds to RP potential, and what we have the time and desire to spend time working on.

By Cerberus at Feb 24, 2018 7:56 AM

Well, code shouldn't replace common sense...

Should you impersonate the WJF or NLM on the SIC? hmmmmm.

Could you pull off Chex or Skyfox, or some other low level corporation?

It's also not on the GM's/code to prevent someone from conning you.

Just one POV on it, though. It is something with multiple pro's and cons.